


TJ on the Couch

by BriMarie



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: A little angst, Andi Mack - Freeform, Coming Out, Disney, Hurt and comfort, M/M, TJ Kippen - Freeform, TJ needs a hug, Therapy, Tyrus - Freeform, thelonious jagger - Freeform, thelonious jagger kippen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24178252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: TJ's upset when his mom forces him to go to counseling to open up and find out what's been eating him. Little did he know, counseling is exactly the push he needed to discover his true colors 🌈.
Relationships: Cyrus Goodman & T. J. Kippen, Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 80





	TJ on the Couch

TJ scowled at his mother as she filled out the forms for the psychiatrist. He has been telling her for weeks that he's fine! Ugh why doesn't she listen to him for once in her life? As she finished writing the last bit of the form, she turned over to her very annoyed son and sighed.

"Trust me Thelonious, you'll thank me for this in the end. You really need help!" His mom said.

TJ crosses his arms. "I told you to never call me that name mom! And you're wrong; I don't need this dumbass therapy session or whatever it is!"

His mom pinched his arm as he winced. "Don't you dare swear at me! And I don't need that sass from you young man. A mother always knows what's best for her child and that's final. Is that understood?"

He rolled his eyes and rubbed the area she pinched. "Yeah, whatever." He mumbled.

Soon after, a female doctor came through the office doors. She made an odd face at the name on her clipboard.

"Thelonious Jagger Kippen?" She asked looking around the room. TJ sighed when he heard the awful name his parents gave him. "That's me." He said getting up from his chair with his head down. "Oh great, just follow me this way." His mom gave him two thumbs up as he approached what would be the worst hour and a half of his life.

The woman led him through a hall and finally reached a room. She opened the door. "Sit on the big comfy black couch over here. There are tissues and comfort blankets on the nightstand if you need them. The doctor should be here to see you soon. Good luck Thelonious." TJ winced at the sound of his name, but he let it go and nodded.

He plopped on the couch and looked around the room. He grimaced at everything around him. He was disgusted by the comforting and cheesy quotes on the walls like "Believe in yourself" and "Love conquers all". He could not wait to leave this hell hole. A few seconds later, a different female with a doctors lab coat came in with a big smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm doctor Angela Peters. I'll be your psychiatrist for the next few weeks. You must be Thelonious." She said reaching her hand out for him to grab.

He rudely declined. "First things first, if we're going to be seeing each other for the next few weeks, you need to call me TJ."

The woman smiled and put her hand back to her side. "Okay TJ, I'll make sure of that." She sat at her spot at her desk. She cleared her throat and put on her reading glasses to look at the form in front of her. "So TJ, your mom put here that she believes that you are holding back a secret or information from her. Is that correct?"

TJ rolled his eyes and nodded. "She also said that you've been more irritable and distant with your family and peers, is that also correct?"

He nodded while looking out of the window. He saw her scribbling in her notes. "What on earth could you possibly be writing down when I haven't even said anything?" 

"You're being distant with me right now, and refuse to even look me in the eyes. I can see why your mom believes you're drifting away."

TJ rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day. "Whatever lady. You're not getting anything out of me. If you couldn't tell, I was forced here."

She remained calm and kept writing. "How about we start with your relationship with your family. How would you say your relationship with your mom is?"

TJ shrugged. "Good I guess. I occasionally get on her nerves and vise versa, but that's expected."

She scribbled some more. "What about your father?" She watched as he began to tighten his poster and he looked at the window again. His foot began to tap frantically.

"Not so great." TJ said with a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Why would you say that?”

He shrugged again. "Well, he's not around anymore. He's not dead at least that I'm aware of. He may as well be dead because he sure is dead to me."

Angela was shocked he said something so personal so quickly. "So I'm guessing the dad is absent and you haven't heard from him in a while?"

TJ laughed with no humor. "In a while? More like in the last 14 years of my life. I couldn't even point him out in a lineup if someone wanted me to." His face began to scrunch up, and she thought he might begin to cry.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Were there any father figures in your life? Like maybe an uncle, older cousin, stepfather, mom's boyfriend?"

He made another humorless laugh. "Father figure is giving them too much credit. More like a dude who was attempting to get to know me but failed horribly and ended up leaving my mom anyways. I don't have any male cousins on either side. My mom doesn't have brothers, only sisters, and I don't even know if my dad has siblings."

She wrote that down in her notes too. "Do you have any siblings?"

He shook his head. "If I do, then I wouldn't know about it. Wouldn't be shocked if my dad had another kid he abandoned out there to be honest."

"Do you think your relationship, or should I say lack of relationship with your father affects your relationship with your peers and friends?"

He made a confused face. "Why would my relationship with my father affect my relationship with others?”

"Well sometimes whenever you have been neglected by an important person in your life, you build up barriers so you won't be hurt again."

TJ shrunk down in his seat. He felt called out somehow. "I mean I guess it kinda affected the way I treat some people."

She smiled. She felt like she was finally getting somewhere with this kid. "Give me some examples if you can."

“Well there's this girl named Buffy at my school. I treated her like she was inferior to me just because she was a girl taking charge. The thought of her taking over something I was good at just bothered me so much for some reason." 

"Did you have a crush on this girl?"

TJ blushed and looked down at his feet. "I uh...I don't know how to say this. I haven't told anyone a major secret about me yet."

"If you don’t mind me asking, what is that secret?"

"Well you see, I'm not into Buffy or really anyone like her..."

"What do you mean anyone like her? Is she just not your type?"

"That's one way of saying it."

"Can you be more clear?"

TJ sighed. Well if anyone was gonna find out, it should be his therapist. "I'm not into Buffy because I'm... gay."

Angela made a shocked expression. "Oh, well does anybody else know?"

He shook his head. "Do you have anyone you can trust with this secret besides me?"

TJ automatically thought of Cyrus, but he wasn't too sure Cyrus would be comfortable with it.

"I'm not ready to come out to my peers yet. Hopefully soon, but definitely not in the near future."

She nodded and began writing more notes. "If you don't mind me asking, is there a boy you're interested in?”

TJ turned his gaze towards the ceiling and began blushing. "Uh I mean, yeah I guess. He's cool and all but like I don't know if he's into me or if he even likes boys to be honest."

She wrote some more notes. "What makes you think he's not interested in you? Has he blatantly said he was interested in girls, or maybe he said he liked a certain type of boys?"

TJ refused to look her in the eye. This was such a hard topic to talk about with someone he just met. It was extremely intimate. "He's never really spoken about his love life at all now that I think about it. He's hard to read when it comes to his sexuality and type."

"Do you think if you were to come out to him that he would accept you?"

TJ thought about his answer for a second. Cyrus has always been there ever since TJ got that muffin for him. He's been a reoccurring person in his life that somehow became his closest friend who he'd do anything for. Cyrus was known for being accepting, kind, giving, and understandable hence why he accepted Amber and TJ despite being his best friend's enemies. Classic Cyrus always giving people the benefit of the doubt.

He thought about all the times Cyrus defended him like whenever he was his lawyer for the time he stole a school golf cart. He brought out the best of him; there was no denying that. He didn't even realize he was smiling when he was thinking about him. TJ finally directed his eyes towards Angela. "I don't think so; I know so."

She smiled at his response. "I'm glad you have someone you're so fond of. It's always a pleasure to have others around you to support you and love you despite your flaws."

"I think he'll definitely be the first I'd tell. Can't imagine anyone else."

"When or if you do, please tell me how things go whether it's good or bad."

"I definitely will." A timer went off, and Angela stopped it. 

"Well it looks like we ran out of time. This was a good session TJ."

TJ looked at his phone and didn't even realize how time zoomed by. He couldn't believe that he was upset he had to leave. "Wow, when do I get to come back? I wanted to speak some more."

She looked through her schedule. "Well it seems like your mom wanted you to come biweekly. So I'll see you two weeks from now. Sound good?"

He smiled and nodded. They both got up out of their seats and headed for the door. She opened the door for him. "Just give me these papers to the lady in the front and I'll see you soon."

He grabbed them and began to walk out the door, but then he stopped. He titled his head over his shoulder to look at her. "Thank you for listening. It's been a while since an adult wanted to actually hear me." 

To her surprise, he hugged her quickly before speed walking to the front desk. Angela smiled. "Glad I could help TJ." She said under her breath. After giving the papers to the front desk, TJ approached his mom who had been waiting in the lobby. "So how'd it go honey?"

TJ didn't want to give her the satisfaction that she was right just yet, so he decided to play it cool.

"It was alright I guess."

His mother smiled and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "See, what did I tell you? It's good for you!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever."

On the car ride home, all he could think about was Cyrus and how amazing he truly was. Maybe it was time to tell him the truth. He was tired of holding this secret for so long, and he wanted to tell the person he liked the most his true feelings. He pulled out his phone and began typing. 

"Meet me at the swing set at 5. I have something really important to say."

**Author's Note:**

> Keep in mind that this is FICTION and not how an actual therapist would speak to you. I’m pretty sure a few know that, but just in case.
> 
> This wasn’t really a tyrus fanfic but it does mention them so I went ahead and I put it under there. It’s basically what I think TJ would’ve done had he went to a therapist about him coming to terms with his sexuality. 
> 
> Plus this is totally named after an Hey Arnold episode.


End file.
